Wildrose promises cash rebates if oil money spurs surpluses

CREMONA, Alta. – Alberta’s Wildrose party is promising free oil money for all if it win’s the April 23 provincial election.

Leader Danielle Smith announced Monday a Wildrose government would pay directly to citizens 20 per cent of all future budget surpluses generated by oil and natural gas revenues.

“Instead of squandering surplus funds on pet projects and more government waste, the Alberta Energy Dividend will ensure Albertans benefit directly from the wealth our energy sector generates,” Smith said in a news release.

“Wildrose believes that Albertans can spend their own money better than government. That is precisely why we’ve got a plan to put more money back in their pockets instead of government coffers.”

The Alberta government is predicting oil will average out at US$108 a barrel by 2015. Smith said if that happens, her team would cut a $300 cheque to every man, woman, and child.

The promise piggybacks on a payback plan delivered in 2005 by former Progressive Conservative premier Ralph Klein.

With the budget surplus approaching $7 billion that year, Klein announced a direct $400 cash rebate to all Albertans at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The move was panned by some as a cheap stunt from a premier who had given so little thought to economic planning, the only idea he could come up with was to give some money back.

But it was a public relations success, with Albertans putting their “Ralph Bucks” into savings accounts for children or treating themselves to trips or consumer goods.

Monday’s announcement was the third instalment of a Wildrose plan to give back money to help Albertans deal with the inflation and rising costs associated with a booming petro-fuelled economy.

The Wildrose has already promised tax rebates for families with young children and an end to mandatory add-on school fees.

Smith has also promised to balance the budget immediately by cutting government waste, putting the proposed new Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton on hold, and extending the timelines for other non-core infrastructure projects.

She has been particularly critical of the government’s carbon capture and storage plan.

The plan, introduced under former premier Ed Stelmach, has already spent $1.6 billion in a joint project with oil companies on an experiment to mass-liquefy carbon dioxide and store it underground.

Carbon capture and storage has been criticized as expensive, fig leaf technology, allowing governments and oil companies to appear to be working to save the environment while avoiding having to make drastic cuts or impose meaningful penalties on carbon emissions.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford has already said she doesn’t plan to pursue the technology.

Redford’s Progressive Conservatives say the Wildrose is budgeting with rose-coloured glasses if it thinks it can give cash back, not hike taxes and balance the budget.

The Tories say the Wildrose can meet its commitments only with deep cuts to front line service in health and education.

The Tories have been running multibillion-dollar deficits for years even though oil has been at record highs.

This year, they had to withdraw $3.7 billion from the rainy day Sustainability Fund to make ends meet, and will still run an estimated $886-million deficit.

The budget doesn’t hike taxes or introduce new ones. Redford has promised that next year’s budget will be free of red ink.